10 Horror Movies That Are Basically Just Torture Porn

"There are films which skate right up to the border where 'art' ceases to exist in any form and exploitation begins," claims Stephen King in Danse Macabre, "and these films are often the genre's most striking successes." King cites the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as one such film, a picture that satisfies his definition of 'art' as "any piece of creative work from which the audience receives more than it gives." Then there are those 'other' horror films, the grubby little movies that exist purely to entertain the viewer with scenes of sadism and suffering. No taste, no conscience and not much craftsmanship either; the filmmakers are opportunists, not artists. If extreme horror movies exist to portray the dehumanising nature of violence, then the films that fail to address the issue (and likely weren't interested in making a statement in the first place) fall into a category King calls "squalid porno-violence" but modern filmgoers known by another name - "Torture Porn." This is exploitation without art, usually pulled off on a budget of half a shoestring, and performed with all the finesse of amateur pornography. Shorn of depth or artistic distinction, these supposedly illicit films quickly become tiresome.

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